Consumers are increasingly demanding smaller feature rich wireless communication devices. One way to achieve a smaller cell phone with more functions and features is to produce a cell with two configurable housing portions. One such configuration is a flip phone that opens like a clam shell. Other configurations include sliding phones, in which one portion of the phone slides relative to another portion, and swivel phones, in which one portion of the phone swivels open in relation to the other portion of the phone.
Typically, a flip phone having a clam shell design includes a hinge. The hinge is a type of bearing that connects two solid objects and allows only a limited angle of rotation between them. Hinges are typically made of flexible materials or of moving components. Generally, the hinge in a flip phone is used to connect a keypad housing member to a display housing member. Sometimes the keypad section is operatively coupled to the display section using a flexible printed circuit board (PCB). Additionally, the keypad section of the wireless communication device may also be operatively coupled to the display section with a wire bundles or cables. For example, in a traditional flip phone having a “clamshell” design, the display housing member is pivotally attached to a keypad housing member. Generally, the hinge extends the entire length of the edges of the housing members and pivotally connects the housing members together.
Some of these flip phones have a side scroll wheel. Side scroll wheels are wheels that can be accessed from the side of a handset. These wheels can be accessed from side and can be used to scan through different data in the phone. For example, a clam shell or flip phone may have a scroll wheel on the side of the phone. When the scroll wheel is placed on the side of the flip phone, the side rotating motion does not semantically relate to the scroll function. Additionally, there is little or no space on the keypad to place a scroll wheel. Thus, although the existing side scroll wheel remains usable, the user experience could be improved by making the wheel more intuitive or simpler to use.